CONCORDIA, KAN. – Overcoming an 11-point first half deficit and eight-point second-half deficit, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team would use a pair of defensive blocks in the final seconds of potential game-tying and game-winning shots to hold off Pratt Community College 75-73 inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, December 4th.
 
Moving to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, Cloud County has seen all six wins this year come at home while holding Pratt to 17 points under their season average. Pratt drops their third game in their last four outings to fall to 6-5 overall and 1-4 in the KJCCC with the loss.
 
"Our guys had to battle back twice this game which was big considering how Wednesday went in that we blew a 16-point lead in a loss at Seward County" said head coach Devin Kastrup in a post-game interview. "Today, we found ourselves on the other side and on the precipice of whether or not we could find the energy needed to mount a comeback and found a way to turn an 11-point halftime deficit into a five-point lead at the break." "Credit to Pratt for punching us in the mouth again to open the second half as two of their players who entered the game shooting 30 percent and combine to go six-for-10 from three shows just how well they played early in each half." "We were able to weather the storm however and stayed within striking distance which allowed us to get rebounds when we needed them and make plays down the stretch."
 
Starting the game in a 1-0 hole after being administered a class "B" pre-game technical foul, the T-Birds would quickly find themselves in a 4-0 hole and a 6-2 hole as Pratt would come out and look to push the pace early on offense. Cloud County's only two points in the opening three minutes of play would come on a pair of Justin Graham free throws as Pratt would go up six at 8-2 before seeing Malang Athian connect on CCCC's first three of the game to get back within three. The Beavers would then use a 7-0 run to take a double-digit lead at 15-5 as Cloud County would be unable to come up with an answer on the offensive end early and trail by a score of 21-11 after the opening 10 minutes of play.
 
A three from PCC's Sterling young would allow Pratt to take their largest lead of the game at 24-13 with 7:11 left in the first half, but Cloud County would have a response by getting a three of their own from Joe Kearney followed by a layup and pair of free throws from Graham to get back within six. Sophomore Nate Duckworth would cap off the 9-0 run with two more free throws 30 seconds later as the T-Birds would continue to chip away at the Beaver lead. Savian Edwards would get CCCC back within two on a layup with 2:59 left in the first period as things would become tied at 28-28 with 1:14 left before halftime. Ending the half on a high-point, Cloud County would continue their run to end things by scoring the final 11 points of the half as the first lead of the game for the T-Birds would come on a DeMarco Clayton three-point play as the Bloomington, Illinois native would then get a steal and be fouled with less than a second left to go on and hit both free throws and give CCCC a 35-30 lead at the half.

Pratt would come out of the break sharp-shooting from beyond the arc to score 15 of the first 17 points of the second half and go back up by a score 45-37 to force Cloud County into a timeout with 17 minutes remaining. A much-needed bucket would come on the ensuing possession from a drive to the hole from Duckworth as the T-Birds would then find their range from deep to get three's from Edwards and Radovan Vidovic to get back within four at 49-45.
 
Following a pair of free throws from Pratt, Cloud County would get a layup from Kearney followed by a Vidovic layup to pull within two as momentum would start to trend in the favor of CCCC. Despite getting within a possession of Pratt, the T-Birds would be unable to close the gap for the next several minutes as the Beavers would keep Cloud County from tying things and would push the lead back out to a two-possession lead six different times. With things starting to get down to the final minutes, Cloud County would use a Clayton three to get back within a point at 68-67 before trading triples with PCC to eventually trail 72-70 with 2:34 remaining. Duckworth would come up with a game-tying layup on the next offensive possession for CCCC as the T-Birds would go right back to the sophomore on the next offensive chance where the Bloomington, Illinois native would deliver with a layup to give Cloud County the lead once again.
 
Pratt would manage to draw a foul and go into the double-bonus with 1:01 remaining, but come up empty-handed as a pair of missed free throws kept things at a two-point T-Bird lead. An offensive rebound on the second miss however would allow the Beavers another opportunity as a second foul would see PCC hit on one of two free throws to cut the lead down to 74-73. Cloud County would do their best to drain the clock before drawing a foul with 39 seconds remaining as Graham would miss his first free throw before hitting on the second to make it a two-point lead once more before committing yet another foul on the defensive end.
 
Free-throw struggles would continue to be an issue for Pratt late in the game as another empty opportunity with two misses would allow the T-Birds to get a defensive rebound and force the Beavers to foul. This time it would be Cloud County who would have free throw woes as Kearney would miss the front end of a one-and-one which would allow Pratt another opportunity to tie the game or even take the lead. A drive to the hoop by Nasan Ayala would be turned away by freshman Zion Obanla who would block the ball out of bounds along the sideline with 0.4 seconds remaining to give Pratt one final opportunity. After two timeouts to try and draw up a play, PCC would inbound the ball into the corner where DJ Bailey would put up a potential game-winning three that would be blocked on a closeout attempt by Graham as time expired to allow CCCC to escape with the win.
 
Finishing one three short a season-high, Cloud County would finish the game nine-of-28 (32.1 percent) from three after entering the game averaging just over five made treys per contest. The T-Birds would also go 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the floor and hit on 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) of their free throws which included a perfect 11-of-11 performance in the first half.
 
Three players would finish with a team-high 13 points for CCCC including Duckworth who would add five assists and two rebounds. Kearney would also score 13 while grabbing five rebounds alongside Edwards off the bench who had 13 points in 20 minutes of action. Both Graham (11 points) and Clayton (10 points) would also reach double-figures to give Cloud County five players in double-figures. Pratt would get a game-high 19 points from Ayala who played a game-high 38 minutes.
 
What's Next?
Cloud County will make a trip west to Great Bend to take on Barton Community College for a KJCCC clash at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, December 8th. The Cougars earned their second-straight conference win on Saturday by defeating Coffeyville 74-48 after starting league play with three-straight losses. The win moved Barton to 8-3 overall and 2-3 in the KJCCC.